O. E. Omotosho

Persistence of acidosis in alloxan-induced diabetic rats treated with the juice of Asystasia gangetica leaves

Background: Diabetes mellitus is gradually becoming a global health burden leading to an increase in the search for herbal hypoglycemic agents as alternatives to synthetic ones. Asystasia gangetica is one of the herbs used in folklore system of medicine for managing hypoglycaemia associated with diabetes. Materials and Methods: The influence of the juice of A. gangetica leaf on alloxan-induced diabetic rats was assessed by treating diabetic rats with 25%, 50% and 75% fresh juice and glibenclamide for 5 weeks. Afterwards, the plasma concentrations of glucose, triacylglycerols, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and bicarbonate were assayed spectrophotometrically. Results: Treatment of the diabetic rats with the juice significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the elevated plasma levels of glucose to a level not significantly (P > 0.05) different from that of glibenclamide. The juice also significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the plasma lipid peroxidation and improved the lipid profile, as indicated by a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the total cholesterol: HDL cholesterol ratio. However, there was a significant (P < 0.05) rise in the level of bicarbonate as result of the juice treatment from 28.15 ± 2.82 mmol/l in normal control to 60.83 ± 17.46 mmol/l in diabetic control and to 122.20 ± 34.68 mmol/l, 120.95 ± 35.09 mmol/l and 115.85 ± 11.79 mmol/l in 25%, 50% and 75% juice, respectively. Conclusion: Therefore, this inability of A. gangetica to prevent acidosis detracts from the potential of its usefulness in managing diabetes.

Prostate specific antigen and relative prostate weight data on effect of Tetracarpidium conophorum leaf extract on testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common urological disorder of men, characterized by prostatic enlargement and urethral obstruction. In this study, BPH was induced in experimental groups by daily subcutaneous injections of testosterone propionate (TP) for 3 weeks. Tetracarpidium conophorum was administered daily by oral gavage at a dose of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg BW of extract for three weeks, along with the TP injections and 5 mg/kg of finasteride for comparison. On day 21, the animals were sacrificed after anesthesia. Prostate were excised, weighed and used to determine relative prostate weight. Quantitative and qualitative phytochemical screening was also done and it showed the presence of flavonoids (0.370 mg/ml), tannins (0.458 mg/ml), phenols (0.508 mg/ml) and steroids (0.257 mg/ml). The prostate specific antigen level was evaluated, the result showed the data for extract group 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, finasteride control group and BPH control group to be 0.186 ± 0.0023 ng/ml, 0.153 ± 0.005 ng/ml, 0.119 ± 0.0125 ng/ml and 0.332 ± 0.004 ng/ml respectively.

Reactivity of the CysF9[93]β of the sulphydryl group of the major horse (Equus caballus) haemoglobin

F as pathogens, represent a small minority when compared to the other microbial agents. However, advances in the healthcare of patients with non-infectious diseases coupled with the rise of HIV/AIDS globally and continued outbreaks of primary fungal pathogens in otherwise healthy hosts have led to an overall increase of these etiologic agents. Presently, the etiologic agent of Cryptococcus is classified into two species, Cryptococcus neoformans with two varieties: C. neoformans var. grubii and C. neoformans var. neoformans and C. gattii. C. neoformans and C. gattii infections cause an estimated one million cases of cryptococcal meningitis per year among people with HIV/AIDS resulting in nearly 625000 deaths. The wide variety of presentations of the disease seen in India suggests the possibility of strain variation. The present study analyzed the burden of cryptococcal meningitis in India as the study cases involved individuals from different regions. The cerebrospinal fluid samples were subjected to cytology and cultural, biochemical and mass spectrometric identification, genotyped by Multiloci Sequence Typing (MLST) and phylogenetically analyzed. The demographics of the study population were also studied and analyzed. The genotyping of the clinical strains revealed the predominance of VNI molecular type. The C. gattii strains belonged to VGIV molecular type. C. gattii was not very prevalent in the area and majority of the infections observed were caused by C. neoformans var. grubii. The study group involved subjects from the different parts of India and therefore can be inferred to be a reflection of the country’s cryptococcal meningitis burden.T sugars glycerol and trehalose have been widely examined as protective agents in the cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs). However, the effectiveness of these reagents alone on RBCs remains unclear, indicating the need for further studies aimed to explore the effectiveness of the protective agents on cells functionality. The comparative study has found that RBC survival following cryopreservation in glycerol and trehalose were 37.9±4.6% vs. 54.8±1.7% as measured 24 hours after thawing. Storing the cryosurvival RBCs in standard storing media salt-adenine-glucose and mannitol (SAGM) at low temperature for 10 days showed that the haemolysis percent in cryosurvival RBCs from glycerol vs. trehalose were approximately 60% vs. 29.0±8.4% respectively. The pro-oxidative status in cold storage of protein and lipid was examined. This showed that the protein oxidative damage levels in RBCs stored in SAGM immediately post thawing were 16.49 nmol/ml and 14.99 nmol/ml for the Glycerol (G) and Trehalose (T) freezing conditions. The oxidative damage in RBC lipids was only seen in trehalose cryosurvival RBCs, which was about 1.14±0.125 nmol/106 cells, whereas glycerol had no effect on lipid peroxidation (0.4±0.29 vs. 0.6±0.22 nmol for the fresh RBC control and glycerol freezing conditions respectively). Further enzymatic assessments showed that trehalose is safer than glycerol and it enhanced the stability of thawed cells during cold storage.Data mining has emerged as a very powerful tool to extract information. In the present study RB1 gene, which is a tumor suppressor gene has been studied. Data mining is done first at Ground Level Mining, in which relevant data sets are collected and then reduced to the minimum size possible through statistical representation. Chromosome Report is studied to determine the chromosome location of the gene under study. It regulates cell cycle as a check point for p53 and for other genes as well, specifying cell fate. The mRNA Report gives detailed information regarding the gene for its identification and transcript sequences. The Peptide Report reveals highly descriptive data regarding protein, SNP regions, position and alleles. A special emphasis is given to protein interactions and blastp result for study of homologous protein sequences. Phylogenetic tree is generated using homologous protein sequences for Phylogenetic Inference and homology with other taxa. The preclinical data of cyclosporine has suggested that it has a significant role in treating retinoblastoma malignancies but the binding of Actinomycin-D with Rb is far better as evident by the low e-total value signifying its greater affinity. Therefore the drug is suggested as a potential drug for future in treatment of retinoblastoma and associated retinoblastoma malignancies. Correspondence to: Dr. Farhina Pasha, Department of Biology, Faculty of science, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tel: +966 44273055; Fax: +966 44251124; E-mail: fbasha@ut.edu.saProteome sample preparation for gel-based and mass spectrometry-based studies has remained relatively unchanged for many years. The goal of these sample preparation schemes is to remove contaminant...P of bioethanol has received much attention in recent years and many countries have made large investments in infrastructure, process development and production facilities. Energy crisis are the leading economic constrains in developed as well as in developing countries. With the exhaustion of non-renewable resources at an exponential rate, the need to develop alternative renewable sources which can be both cost effective, environmental friendly and high in yield is the need of time. Recently, the increasing demand of energy has strongly stimulated the research on conversion of lignocellulosic plant biomass by the action of cellulases enzymes into reducing sugars for the subsequent production of bioethanol. Endoglucanases are mainly responsible for hydrolyzing the internal glycosidic bond to decrease the length of the cellulose chains. Obtaining efficient and Thermostable Endoglucanase has become the goal of much research worldwide. Therefore, our research work was focus to search for new resources of Endoglucanase which was thermostable and with high catalytic efficiency. The article focuses on the thermo-tolerant endo-1,4β-glucanasegene of Thermotoga petrophila RKU-1 was cloned and over-expressed in E. coli strain BL21 CodonPlus for its potential usage for the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass and in different industrial applications. Thermostable endoglucanase can be used simultaneously and directly in the saccharification procedure without a pre-cooling process of biomass. Purified enzyme was optimally active with 530 Umg-1 of specific activity against CMC at pH 6.0 and 95 °C which has exhibited a halflife (t1/2) of 6.6 min even at temperature as high as 97 °C and stable up to 8 hours at 80 °C. The recombinant enzyme saccharified pre-treated wheat straw and baggase to 3.32% and 3.2%, respectively after 6 hours incubation at 85 °C. Its thermostability, resistance to heavy metal ions and high specific activity make endoglucanase a potential and promising candidate for various industrial applications such as in textile industry (Biostoning and Biofinishing) in animal feed production, in processing of beer and fruit juice, in biomass hydrolysis (bioethanol production) and in plant oil, detergent, pulp and paper industry.

Policy for development and use of open educational resources in covenant university: An open access policy in covenant university

Establishing an Open Access Policy (OAP) in an academic institution is unlike establishing other policies the institution might have developed. An OAP in an academic institution would require the active participation of all stakeholders; researcher/faculty, library, management (Administration) and even students. OAP development in Covenant University spanned a total of 13 months; covering, draft policy development, legal review of policy, review of OAP by the university community, revision of policy document following institutional review, adoption of OAP by university community, ratification of OAP by University Senate. The OAP development period also saw a deliberate effort by the university through its Open Access (OA) office to sensitize its community on the drive for OA, as well as educates strategic units and departments of the university on OA issues to bring such key units and department abreast on OA and ensure proper execution on the OAP. Covenant University now operates an OAP for the development and use of open educational resources, alongside Institutional Repository (IR) guidelines. The OAP covers publications and access to research information, pedagogy materials and tools as well as access to non-research or pedagogical materials in the university and by the university workers, researchers and faculty.